Catalyst
by GoPenguinSleddingWithMe
Summary: Earth's rebuilding from Galra's destruction was nearing its completion after weeks of continuous operations. However, it seems that it's not only Earth that needs rebuilding. Lance was doubting himself again and there's only one person to help him back up. Post-S7 AU oneshot.


Beneath the starry skies and bright shine of the moon, Lance was sitting by the edge of a roof looking up above. The Paladins were called again to prepare their journey in space for hopefully, their last time. The people were safe with hundreds of AUs of protection from any danger, but the only way to make it sure was to take the fight to them and end it. Lance was able to spend the much-needed time with his family after being away from them for a couple of years. That also gave him some time to think of the journey he had with the others and even himself.

Lance has been through a lot of things and he definitely matured, but he's still a relatively carefree and fun person. He experienced the joy, tears and the pain with his teammates through the years. All these things that helped him to become a better person. You would think that he would be satisfied with where he is now, right? Back on Earth and successfully repelling the Galra on top of helping other planets and galaxies from the war. But it felt like it wasn't enough for him. He felt like he needed to do more.

He was the best long-range fighter however in the heat of the battle, it's probably a skill that could be rarely noticed since everyone's priority was not to die in the first place. When they're on the ground, he's usually the support member where he covered for the team. But he thought that is he even supporting them enough? On and off the battle? He's the one that cheers everyone up in the team when they're down. However, he kept thinking about how it's the only thing that he's truly offering to the team. He even thought of the part of being the funny guy to the team might just be taken for granted as no one had really talked about it on why he was like that or how did he come up with what he did. His insecurities on his spot on the team slowly came back again after they faced Bob and it felt like when they switched their Lions again. A sense of doubt started to cloud his mind. Was he really dumb? He did everything required for the team, but he asked himself if all these was enough?

He was deep into his thoughts when he heard someone approaching. When he turned his head, he was a bit surprised at how close they were already on his spot. He immediately noticed that it was Pidge that came up.

When they made eye contact, she decided to speak and used his words when they met on that night of the crash. "You came up here to rock out?" She asked him as she sat beside him.

"No, uhmm, just looking at the stars," He smiled at her, but it felt forced.

She noticed his face and she felt that something was off, but she didn't take it as anything yet. "What are you doing up here anyway? Shouldn't you be with everyone else downstairs having a fun time?"

"Nothing really, I just want to look up at the beautiful night above."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, good as new."

She didn't believe it. They have one of the closest relation between the Paladins and they've been together long enough to know what each other behaved like. She then decided to press on what he was feeling.

"Please Lance, you're worrying me," Lance's eyes widened when he heard this. "You've been too quiet in the past few days. You know, you can trust me, right?"

Lance was surprised at how much Pidge cared for him. He knew how fierce she got when she tried to get him out of harm's way on multiple occasions, but he noticed that she doesn't show the same behavior when saving their other teammates. He also remembered that she attacked Bob instead of completing her challenge when he got placed in a vat. Could there be a reason why she acted differently when it comes to him? He just then told her what has been running in his mind.

"The truth is that I've been just thinking a lot about myself." He then looked at her.

"Why?"

"I sometimes think that I don't really bring much to the team." He looked away from her. "I suppose I'm being only funny here and that's what I'm only good at." Then he looked down below them, "I guess Bob is right, the 'all-knowing God' told us what the people think of me. I'm just the dumb one and maybe of little use too."

Pidge was shocked to hear this words from him. She knew that Lance got insecure at times, but she didn't expect it to be this bad. She might not be good at comforting others, but she knew that just the two of them being together would cheer him up. However, she also knew that it won't be enough with how he was feeling. She decided to put a stop to this.

"Lance, just stop! Please!" As she stood up and he looked at her, "Don't ever say those things again!"

He stood up as well, "But Pi-"

She was not letting him give a chance to stop her. "No Lance! You have a place on this team. Don't you ever doubt that! You're the reason why we're here. You've brought this team together. You started everything when Blue chose you to be her Lion. You were never dumb, you're smart in your own way. You always find a way to pull us back up when we're down. We're thankful that we have you."

That made his mouth left hanging open at what she said. He was almost tearing because it felt like it was the first time someone cared about him. He just hugged her really tight because he was so grateful that it was her he was with now. She placed her arms around him and held him too. He eventually started to cry and let out all the feelings that he contained.

"Everyone on the team cares about you. I care about you." She smiled as she told him, and it made his eyes widened.

He decided to let go of their hug and asked her, "Really?"

"Yes Lance," She was looking into his eyes. "I'm thankful that you followed me that night of the crash. I know you also followed me because you care about me too. And it wasn't just that, you helped me in a lot more ways that you can imagine. I'm just helping you back."

Now he was really curious why she was doing this, "Pidge. Why are you really telling me all these things?"

She got caught off guard with his question, but she decided to have the courage to tell what this was also about. "It's because I love you Lance. It hurts me to see you like this. You always found a way to make me smile."

He teared up again after hearing it and she felt worried and a bit scared. "Why? What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

"No. You can never do something wrong. It's because I never thought that you would love me back! I thought I screwed up the chances with us being together. I realized how I was basically ignoring you when I'm with the other girls. I feel bad and ashamed that it took me a long time to realize how much you mean to me. I'm sorry, so sor-"

She decided cup his face and just kissed him. It surprised him, but he just kissed her back. She eventually pulled back and told him, "Don't be. I'm just happy and relieved that you also love me back." They both had the biggest smile because they were finally together.

"I love you too, Katie. Thank you for coming up here. Thank you for everything too." She took his hand and held it and they looked at the horizon beyond them.

She noticed the sky above them. "Look! A shooting star!" He looked up and she told him, "Make a wish Lance."

He knew what to say and he was confident about it, "I wish that I could spend every moment with you."

They looked at each other again and shared a passionate kiss once more.

* * *

 **AN:  
** AU means Astronomical Unit for that context but the other one works too if you know what I mean ;)

Season 8 didn't influence this story as I started this back in October, but I decided to get back on it a couple of weeks ago and have it up here too. However, you could consider it as a S8 fix it fic if you want.


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